Convertible pocket-carom billiard-table.



H. F. DAVENPORT.

T OAROM BILLIARD TABLE.

' Patented June 1, 1909. I 3 BHBETS E H. r. DAVENPORT. CONVERTIBLEPOCKET OAI'POM BILLIARD TABLE.

. APPLIOATIQN'IILED 1FAR.13, 1907. I V

Patented June 1 .1909.

' 8 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Asr-imamu, n. c

IBILE POCKET OAROM BILLIARD TABLE; APPLICATION FILED EAR. 13, 1907.

IL 1?. DAVENPORT. GONVERT Patented 1, 1909. as BB gun a g Q i T AVA/ 21%able fromf'the said bed-rails by means of -Urirrl5E1) HARMONnnA'vENroa'r, or CHICAGO, ILLiNOis,

No. 923,249. r

I T 0 all whom it may Concemi OOLLENDE ASSIGNOR TO THE BRUNSWIOK-BALKE-It COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

COR'VEBTIBLE POCKET GAROM BILLIARD-TABLE.

Be it knownthat I, HAnMoN F. DAVEN- IORT, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in Chicago, v county of Cook, and State of Illinois,have inventeda new and useful Improvement 1n Convertible Pocket -CaromBilliard-Tables, of which the following is a specification,

reference being had to the accompanyingdrawing,-form1ng part thereof.

My invention relates, to what is commonly denominatedi,a combinedbilliard I and pool'table, which is, more properly speaking, a tablewhich byeither the use or disuse of certain parts, in connection withthe major portionsof the'table, or by the adjustment of certainpartsalways attached tothe table, may be transformed from a transformation.Many i been made and patented having pocket-table into a carom-table andvice versa, at the pleasure of the user of the table and without theemployment of a skilled mechanic and tools to effectuate the inventionshave for their end andobject the accomplishment of this desideratum,among whic 1 may be instanced a tablehaving a bed-rail rovided with sixpermanently-arranged poc iets, a set of six pocket cushion-rails, and aninterchangeable set of four carom cushion-rails, each of such sets ofrails being attachable to and detach- Letters Patent to Bartel No.650,085, of May 22,1900, in which its construction and opera- 'tion willbe found fully set forth. Many other forms ofconvertible table have beendevised;

tinuity' of the a patented; and used; but only two kinds have evergonemuch intouse, viz. 1st, that kind comprising the use of attachable anddetachable cushion-blocks, which kind has been in commercial use now fora great many years and'to a considerable extent; (mainly on account ofits simplicity, its cheapness, and the easewith which it may be used bythe owner of. thetable) but which kind has given "butlittle satisfactionto players of much skill; on accountof the imperfect action of thecushions, hen adjusted for use as a carom table, due to, the lack of aperfect con- -playingsurfaces of the cushions, or the jointures of thepermanent and the detachable parts of the cushions; and 2nd.thatotherstyle of convertible table patented to Bartel, asstated, and whichis Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1, 1909.

Serial No. 362,136.

now well known in the market as the Bartel table; which has gone veryextensively into public use, and has given and now gives satisfaction tothe purchasing public; because, while costing much more than theordinary pocket table provided with attachable cushion-blocks totransform it into a carom table; and while requiring more time and handlabor, on the part of the owner or user, to effectuate thetransformation, it is perfect in operation when adjusted for use forcarom billiards.

My invention relates convertible billiard table, and has for its obj ectto improve the means by which the attachable and detachable ortranslatable sets of cushion-rails are rigidly and perfectly connectedwith and disconnected from the stationary or fixed bed-rails of thetable, in making the transformation of the latter from a pocket table toa carom, and vice versa, so that the table can be changed from a pocketto a carom table with much greater expedition, and with much lesstrouble to the user of the table.

In the Bartel table, the cushion-rails, as is well known, are removably,but very securely, attached to and detached from what are called the bedrails of the table, by means of a series of vertically arrangedthumbscrews; which pass upwardly through the bed-rails and aremanipulated from beneath, by hand, and which engage, at their upper,threaded, ends, with nuts which are securely and permanently attachedto, or let-into, the cushion-rails proper. Under this construction, asis well known, in making the transformation from one to the other kindof table, quite a number of these securing thumb-screws has to beseparately manipulated (usually five or six of each longer, and three orfour of each shorter set of cushion-rails) which involves considerabletime and trouble by the user, or by the per son making thetransformation.

My invention has for its object to render much easier and moreexpeditious the manipulation of thetranslatable sets of cushion-rails,by the user or manipulator of the table; and to this end and object maybe said to consist essentially, in the combina- 'tion, with a series offemale locking members,

the removable cushion-rail, of a adapted to and sewithin the past fewyears; 7

to this Bartel type of usual corner pockets with their cured to anoperating-bar located in the stationary bed-rail; and a device ormechanism for actuating said operatingbar, adapted to be moved by hand;so that, by a slight and rapid manipulation of a single hand-lever,(located preferably immediately beneath the bed-rail) all the malemembers of the raillocking mechanism may be simultaneously moved into,or out of engagement with the female members; as will be hereinaftermore fully explained.

To enable those skilled in the art to which my invention relates, tomake and use the above mentioned type or species of con vertible tablewith my improvement embodied therein, I will now proceed to describe mysaid invention more particularly, by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, which form part of this specification, and in which- Figure 1is a perspective view of a Bartel convertible table, illustrating themethod of shifting or translating the cushion-rails, and embodying myimprovement. Fig. 2 is a partial top view, on an enlarged scale, of onecorner portion of the said table, showing one of the corner pockets andthe arrangement therewith of a set of pocket table cushion-rails. Fig. 3is a similar view, showing in connection with the corner pocket and itspocket iron, a set of carom cushion-rails. Fig. 4 is a view of one ofthe slide-bars and its fastener-hooks, detached. Fig. 5 is a verticalcrosssection through the cushion-rail, bed rail, table bed, and cushionsproper, at the vicinity at which is located one of the series ofimproved or novel fastening devices, made according to my invention.Fig. 6 is a vertical, partial, longitudinal section taken in a planeindicated by the dotted line 66, of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a partial,horizontal section, taken in a plane indicated by the dotted line 7-7 ofFig. 6.

In the several views the same parts will be found always-designated bythe same character of reference.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 1, A represents the bed orplaying surface; B, the body or broad-rails; and C, the legs of aconvertible billiard table of the Bartel type, and embodying myimprovement. In this and the other views, 40 indicates the pocket irons,and 42 the side pockets with their corresponding irons, of a Bartelconvertible table; while, as seen at the front and lefthand sides of thetable, shown at Fig. 1, 24 are the side bed-rails; 25 the end bed-railsof the table; 26, the end cushion rail of the pocket table species; and27, 28, two side cushion rails of a pocket table; while 29 is a siderail of the carom table species, illustrated as being substituted for aset of pocket cushion rails which have been removed; and 30 is an endcushion rail of the carom spel rail of the said I l l l been placed inposiof transforming the l. ood by reference ble made accord invention,each and every one of the detachable and re-attachable cushionrails isprovided with a nut-like devices 9, each of the stock of thecushion-rail end lies about flush with th plurality of metallic which islet into so that its lower e bottom surface of said rail; and each ofthese metallic devices is ning through the device in the length of thetable-rail.

perforated with a polygonal anerture, runi the direction of Adapted toe11- gage with this aperture, in one of the devices 9, 1s a malefastemng devic particularly Figs.

proximately wedge shaped side view, and integral with portion marked (Z,of extending downwardly and e member (see 4 and 5) which is of ananconfiguration in which 1s a bodyplate-like form, which,

being located in a housin or cut-awav in both the removable cushion-railand the stationary bed-rail, has its lower end securely fastened(preferably by rivets as seen at Fig. 4) to a longitudinally Sl1CllI1bar a which is housed within the lower portion of the bed-rail of thetable, and

1S free to move, endwise, on supporting devices h; and which is heldagainst upward movement; by ov devices 2'. The function is to form arigid vertically arranged sliding one bed-rail, to enforce a sin neousmovement of all of any bodily er-lymg metallic of this sliding bar 72connection between all the plates (Z, of any nlar and simultasuchdevices (1,

(with their cam-like fastening members f) when anyone is moved.

Within the lower part of each bed rail is suitably arranged, within ametallic housing,

or journal box Z, a vertical crank-shaft b, the

upper end of which with a crank which engages in some one of the slidingarm 0, the

with a horizontal is formed or provided vibratory end of aperture 6,

plate-like devices (Z; (preferably with one which may be located nearthe middle of the series of any one cushion-rail) and the lower end ofwhich vertical shaft 1), is securely fas of a hand lever a, which isdownwardly vibration of which, horizontally, (by a piece a) the verticalcrank s rotated sufliciently on its a tened to one end provided with aprojecting handle a," and by a to the proper extent, manipulation ofsaid hand haft, or stud b, is x1e to effectuate,

through the medium of the connection of said crank arm 0 with the properlongitudinal movem the cam-like devices pass along within the rateddevices 9; therefrom pose to be hereinafter more The vibratory end ofthe perforated plate (Z the ent with the bed operating-bar to cause allof to either enter into and apertures of the perfoor to be whollywithdrawn in the manner and for the purfully explained. actuatinghandlever a, is formed or provided with a pail-like device 1), whichengages with one or the other of a series ofratchet likenotches in oneedge or face of the, horizontally arranged vibratory arm n, (see Fig. 6)which arm is mounta) all in such manner, as will be plainly understood,that whenever the vibratory handleve'r a shall be vibrated or swung atits movable end toward the'body of the table and into a positionwhichbrings it beneath the bed rail thereof, itwillcome into engagementwith the notched,hold-fast device n, and will be by the latter'securelylocked, or held in such position; 1 a a In the operation of he device ormechanism shown,-particularlyatFigs. 5, band 7, and so far described,assuming the rail fastoning devicestobe in the position or conditionseen at said figures (in which the cushion railis securelyfastened inplace on top of the bed rail) bymoving the lower end ofthe lockingdevice'a sufliciently*(against the tendency of its spiral spring) in thedirection indicatedbythe arrow at Fig. 7, so as to releasethelockedend 1) of the hand lever a, the latter may then be swung outwardlyftotherequisite position, or extend to rotate the vertical studror shaft 1)suiii ciently to cause thevibratory end of its crank c, which engageswith the aperture 6 in'the plate-like device d, to move said platelikedevice, lengthwise of the table, or in the direction indicated by thearrow at Fig. 6, to a suflicient extent to wholly withdraw the cam-likeor wedge-shaped inter-gal part f from the aperture in theperinanentfemale member of the fastening mechanism; whereupon (this operation andeffect being duplicated in all the fastening devices of the onecushion-rail) the latter may readily be removed fromthe bed-rail and putone sid c,

' to permit the substitution therefor of a other species ofcushion-rail, which, of

course, is provided with the same female fastener devices 9," and, whenthe substitution shall have been made, then by turning the crank handlea back to its former position or condition, a reverse movement of theplate-like device d will be efiected, causing themale members, ofthelocking mechanism to enter the perforation of the devices I, g, ofthenewly applied, or substituted, cush- ,G' ion-railyancl as these malemembers enter said perforations ofsaid" devices, they will, by reasonofthe oblique or inclined shape of their lower edges, ooac'ting with theupper surfaces of the perforations, or cut-outs, of g, draw or forcedownwardly into the final or proper position, said devices g; whichwill, of course, similarly force or draw down the newly appliedcushion-rail; and insure the retention of the latter in its properposition.

Of course, as plainly shown, the perforations in the devices 9, aresuch, in a vertical direction, that there will be sufficient play orspace between the top of the opening or aperture, and the upper edge ofthe male member f, of the locking plate, to permit the necessary descentor enforcement down wardly, of the applied cushion-rail to bring it intojuxtaposition with the bed-rail of the table rail where, as has beensaid, itwill be firmly held in place, by the cam-like action of thelower part of the member f, on the bottom surface, so to speak, of theaperture 9.

To compensate for any wear or variation, structurally, in the co-actingparts of the fastening devices (composed, as explained, of the malemembers f and the female members g) I provide the means shown and abovedescribed, of the ratchet-like, or notched hand-lever or arm n, withwhich the vibra tory end of the crank bar a engages so that, in forcinghome the applied cushion-rail by the manipulation of the crank handleand bar a and a, not only will the parts be socurely locked and held inthe right position, by the positive engagement of the male member p, ofthe crank handle with one of the notches in the locking bar a; but,furthermore, by forcibly pushing inwardly, beneath the rail of thetable, (by manipulation of the handle a) the vibratory end of the crankarm a, to a greater or less degree, so as to effectuate the looking withone or another of the notches in a, any wear in the coacting parts 'orsurfaces, of the male and female members of the fastening devices, willbe taken up, or compensated for.

It will be understood, of course, that, in so far as the generalconstruction and operation together, of all the other parts of thetable, (such, for instance, as the bed-rails; the translatablecushion-rails; and the attached cushions) are concerned, it isimmaterial to my invention exactly how these parts may be made andassembled; so long as the general construction and mode of assemblagepeculiar to the Bartel construction of convertible table be followed.And, in so far as many of the details of construction of the partsconstituting my improvement are concerned, variations may be madetherein, without departing from the spirit of my invention; so long asany such changes do not materially affect the novel principle ofconstruction, which lies, essentially in means for producing thesimultaneous actuation of the 1 effectuate the attachment to, and permitthe 1 detachment from the bed-rails of the interchangeablecushion-rails, by the manipulation of a single hand-lever, as I havehereinbefore explained.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination with the bodily removable cushion-rails; and thestationary bed-rails, of a convertible pocket carom billiard table, of alocking mechanism comprising a series of female members immovablyarranged in the cushion-rail and a series of bodily movable male memberslocated in the bed-rail; means for causing a simultaneous and similarmovement of all of the said male members; and means for so moving thesaid male members that is actuated through the medium of a singlehand-operated device all in substantially the manner hereinbefore setforth.

2. In a convertible pocket-carom table of the species shown, thecombination, with one of the stationary bed-rails, and one of the bodilyremovable cushion-rails, 01' a series of female locking membersimmovably con nected with the said removable cushion-rail and a seriesof male looking members in said bed-rail, engaging with said femalemembers and all attached to a connecting device or member;'whereby theactuation of one of said male members necessarily produces a likemovement of all the male members, of the said set of malecushion-locking devices substantially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the stationary bed-rails the removablecushion-rails a se ries of female locking device members, arranged inthe latter and a series of male locking device members permanentlyconnected so, that all move together, of a ver i tically arrangedcrank-shaft, located within the table rail and provided with a crank,the vibratory end of which engages with one of the said male members ofthe locking devices; and a crank-handle adapted to oscillate saidcrank-shait on its axis, to effectuate the locking and unlocking oi theremovable or translatable cushion-rail, and provided with means at itsvibratory end or portion, by which it may be locked in position, whenturned beneath or under the bed-rail, for the purpose of eiiectuatingsaid locking in place of the said cushion-rails; all substantially ashereinbel'ore set forth.

4. The combination, with the end portion of the stationary bed-rail thelocking mechanism; and the vibratory end of the handlever of the latter,of an automatically operating locking device, for fastening in place thevibratory end of said hand-lever, in such different positions as theconditions of the working parts of the rail-locking mechanism mayrequire; substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 7th day of March,1907.

HARMON F. DAVENPORT.

In presence of Enw. F. THOMAS, JOHN H. I/VIEsn.

